Grey’s Anatomy is returning for season 20: Here’s a look at the cast then and now

Catch up with Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, and more of your favorite stars throughout the years.

Grey’s Anatomy is a show that has legions of fans, and everybody loves the series for different reasons. Some audiences, for example, are drawn to the realistic tensions and tragedies inherent to working in a hospital, while others enjoy the off-the-wall surprises and increasingly wild plot lines. One thing all viewers appreciate, however, is the show’s amazing cast and its colorful characters.

The Grey’s Anatomy cast has gone through many changes since the series debuted in 2005. Ahead of season 20, here’s a look back on all your favorite actors from Shonda Rhimes’ hit ABC medical drama, then and now.

Ellen Pompeo (Dr. Meredith Grey)

Ellen Pompeo started her television career on shows like Law & Order (1996–2000), Strangers With Candy (1999), and Friends (2004). She also demonstrated her big screen chops in the movies Moonlight Mile (2002) and Daredevil (2003), but the small screen made her a household name. That’s all thanks to Grey’s Anatomy, where she played the titular character Dr. Meredith Grey.

“I have the best relationship with pretty much all of the original cast,” Pompeo told InStyle’s Ladies First podcast in 2021. “Not everybody, but I really stay in touch with a lot of them, and we just have the best time. I just love them. There’s like a deep affection I have for that original cast because we went through something that only a few people can relate to.”

Pompeo has been part of Grey’s Anatomy since its start in 2005. For a while, it looked like she might never cease her full-time commitment to the show. She began appearing in fewer episodes by season 19, though she still provided voiceovers. Her character will still appear in four episodes of the upcoming 20th season.

Pompeo attracted media attention in 2021 after telling Patrick Dempsey on her podcast, Tell Me with Ellen Pompeo, about a spat she had with Denzel Washington on set. Washington, who directed the season 12 episode “The Sound of Silence,” allegedly took issue with Pompeo improvising certain lines, leading her to angrily reply, “’Listen, motherf‑‑‑er, is my show. This is my set. Who are you telling?” She was later met with media scrutiny over her attitude towards Washington.

Pompeo is currently working on an untitled TV miniseries about orphans, and she continues to serve as an executive producer on Grey’s Anatomy and the spinoff series Station 19.

The actor married music producer Chris Ivery in 2007. They have three children together.

Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd)

Patrick Dempsey already had a reputation as a sexy dreamboat thanks to films like Can’t Buy me Love (1987) and Sweet Home Alabama (2002) by the time he joined Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. Neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd is affectionately dubbed “McDreamy,” and that nickname has stuck to the actor well past his official departure from the series in 2015.

Fans will always remember when his character was shockingly killed off in season 11. In a 2015 interview with EW, the actor discussed how he felt about retiring the role that catapulted him to stardom.

“I knew it would be heavy like that. I didn’t realize until we did our interview that it was really over,” he said. “It started to dawn on me that this is coming to an end, which is why I think I was so moved by it. It was the first time I really stepped back and was starting to witness and to reflect on what had happened.”

That didn’t stop writers from bringing McDreamy back in flashbacks and dream sequences, though, notably appearing in Meredith’s visions while on a ventilator in season 17.

Dempsey has since starred in movies like Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016), Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving (2023), and Ferrari (2023). Longtime fans also enjoyed his recent turn in Disney’s Disenchanted (2022), the sequel to his magical movie Enchanted (2007).

As for his personal life, Dempsey was married to his former manager and acting coach Rochelle “Rocky” Parker from 1987 to 1994. He later married Jillian Fink in 1999, with whom he shares three children. The couple nearly divorced in 2015, but they reconciled the following year.

When he’s not in front of the camera, Dempsey is quite fond of auto racing and has competed in many series. He’s also well-known for his philanthropic work, namely founding the Patrick Dempsey Center at Central Maine Medical Center in 2008 during his now-deceased mother’s bouts with cancer.